In A Blink Of An Eye
by Ashfirebolt
Summary: Twins are supposed to be close, but Lysander had started to withdraw himself and Lorcan has no idea why. With personality's so similar argument start on a regular basis, but one argument goes a bit too far and in a blink of an eye, everything has changed
1. Chapter 1

((Hi! This a story I decided to start, I hope you enjoy! Feel free to leave a review with any thoughts you have! It's a next gen story. Okay bye!))

Twins. They were an odd phenomenon. They were rare. They weren't supposed to happen. But it's a gift. Two for the price of one.

Lysander Scamander was a twin. An identical twin for that matter. With matching blonde hair, matching blue eyes and matching just about everything else, no one could really tell the difference between himself and Lorcan.

Lysander loved being a twin, he honestly did. It was nice to have someone to talk to, to turn back to. Someone he could relate to on a level most people couldn't even begin to image. It was his second half, really and truly.

But with two personality's that were so similar, they had a habit of rubbing each other up the wrong way. "It's a twin thing." Their mother would sigh when they started yet another argument over who had opened the cereal box the wrong way.

Lysander was naturally hot-headed. He got it from his father. It didn't take much to make him burst but he got over it quickly.

Lorcan didn't share this trait with him. Lorcan took a lot of poking and prodding to get any type of reaction from him but when you did get a reaction, you regretted starting. He also had a habit of holding grudges.

He couldn't help it anymore than Lysander could but when an argument between the two broke out, everyone else took a big step back so not to get caught in the crossfire.

But this morning their argument was different.

Lysander woke at 9'o clock sharp. With a groan he sat up and grabbed the first t-shirt he spotted and shrugged on the same jeans as yesterday. He had work today. A muggle job of making and serving coffee in a small coffee shop in the heart of London.

It wasn't his dream job by any means. He was studying to be a healer. He was 21 and only had another two years of university left. He was only after finishing his fourth year and he had a whole summer to do nothing before he started his 5th year. That was until the money ran short.

His mother and father both travelled the world looking for rare and endangered creatures hoping to help spread awareness to them and to try and stop them being endangered.

His father was looking for a certain creature in particular. The Caorthannach. Most said it didn't exist but that didn't stop their father. He searched everywhere it was said to appear but with no luck. After every return home empty-handed, it started to take it's tole of their father. He turned to drink and every time it was just a bit harder and harder to get him off of it.

And just before the start of summer Lysander realised that he had drank his way through his savings for med school, so Lysander had to earn for himself.

But he kept it quiet from the rest of his family. He wasn't really on speaking terms with his fathers these days as their conversations tended to end with them lashing out on each other. His mother would insist that everything was fine and that she could handle the fee, because what mother wants to let her son know that she can't afford his education. And he couldn't tell Lorcan because then Lorcan would try and give him some of his own savings.

So Lysander said nothing and went and got himself an alright paying job in muggle London, where it wouldn't get back to his family that he worked there.

Lysander threw on a pair of converse, anything that would fit in for muggles, and ran down the stairs.

"Morning." He called to his mum and Lorcan who were already seated at the kitchen table with breakfast.

"Morning love." His mum said with a small smile. And Lorcan gave him a nod as his mouth was full of toast.

Lysander busied himself by making a cup of tea and he stole a bit of toast off of Lorcan's plate.

"What are your plans for today?" His mum asked him.  
"Probably go and see Andrea." Lysander shrugged facing away from his mum to finish his tea, so he missed Lorcan rolling his eyes.

Andrea Bennet was Lysander's girlfriend or rather his cover for when he was actually working. She was an actual person and they were going out but she wasn't exactly Lysander's favourite person.

It wasn't using her really when she was using him too. He needed a cover and she reckoned she needed a boyfriend. No one could put up with her for very long so she said it made her look good and desirable if she had a boyfriend but Lysander knew as soon as someone so much as looked at her, he would be out on his ear. A match made in heaven.

"I'm going to go see if your father would like some tea." Luna smiled as she rose from the table just as Lysander plopped himself down.

"You're in a rush this morning." Lorcan noted.

"Yeah, I told Andrea I'd land at around quarter to ten." Lysander said glancing at the clock. 9:33, he had plenty of time. His shift started at 10.

"Hey do you reckon I can use the car again today? Might go for a spin around London with her." Lysander asked looking up at him.

For their 17th birthday their mother had presented them with a car to share between them. "It's a useful skill for anyone to have. Wizard or not." And so they both started lessons. At the time Lysander hated it. Thought it was stupid. But now he thanked his lucky stars that his mum made him otherwise he'd have to walk to work everyday.

"Again? You had it yesterday. And the day before, and all last week." Lorcan groaned.

"I know but it's not like we can apparate into muggle London and we have no floo powder left."

"Yeah but who's faults that?" Lorcan muttered.

"What's your problem? It's only a car, and besides what do you need it for anyway?"

"Fine take the car, whatever ittel bittel Ly wants." Lorcan mocked throwing the keys over to Lysander at the same time that Lysander was taking a drink of tea. Tea spilled all over his white tea shirt.

Lysander groaned. "Now I have to go and change." He said glancing at his watch before running up the stairs two at a time, changed and came back down.

"Now I'm going to be late." Lysander told Lorcan.

"Who cares, it's only Andrea, what's the worst she can do? Break up with you?"

"So it's Andrea you have a problem with?" Lysander asked raising an eyebrow.

"No, it's you ever since you started going out with her." Lorcan snapped. "You're always with her, and you're never at home and we need you here now more than ever. 5 days a week you spend with her and not just an hour or two, it's all day. And the for the few days you are here you just lie in bed. Nobody is worth that much Ly. Nobody." Lorcan ranted. Once he got going it took a lot to stop him.

"Home?" Lysander asked him, his voice rising. "This isn't home. You think I want to sit and watch mum beg dad to replace the bottle in his hand for some coffee, or food? To watch you sit there all smiles acting like everything is all fine and dandy? To listen to mum crying quietly at night when she thinks no one can hear her? That's not home and if you think it is then it's you that has the problem. Not me." Lysander said

"So yes I will every opportunity to stay away from this place. To gain enough strength to be able to sit beside him at a dinner table resisting the urge to lay into him. But if you'd rather see that then by all means stop me from leaving." Lysander said raising an eyebrow.

"You're a coward." Lorcan said. "Instead of helping us deal with this, you're running away. You're just a coward."

"I don't have time for this." Lysander said glancing at the clock again. 9:43. He need to go. He grabbed this keys and stalked out of the house.

"Just run away yet again." Lorcan called as Lysander got into the car and drove away.

"Should've just told him." Lysander said to himself. "Stupid, stupid, stupid." He said banging his head against the chair.

He was trying to cool down before he got to work because there was nothing than being in a bad mood with customers and also John, his boss, would kill him.

He reached traffic lights and while he was stopped he took and few deep breaths to try and calm himself. He checked his phone and saw that he had a while yet and if he was early he could sit outside for a few minutes until he was back to normal.

When the lights turned green he started to drive just as a lorry skipped the lights and drove straight into Lysander's car.

Lysander heard a crash. A crunching noise. A scream but maybe that was his own. And pain. Pain everywhere. And then nothing. Absolutely nothing.


	2. Chapter 2

**((Hi again! This is chapter 2! I've never been to London so any facts about it will not be accurate so sorry about that. Anyway, enjoy and feel free to leave a review!))**

Lorcan wasn't sure what to do after that outburst. He sat down at the table and wrapped his hands around the mug of coffee he'd had with his breakfast. It had gone cold. Typical. He bounced his leg, a nervous twitch he developed whenever he got worked up.

He got up to reboil the kettle, just to give himself something to do when Luna walked in again. She took one look at him and sighed. "What happened?" She asked.

"Stupid argument." Lorcan muttered. "As usual."

"Was it really?" Luna asked. She knew what he was like after a 'stupid' argument and this wasn't it.

"I'm just so sick of him. I need a break or I'll scream. He's never around and he leaves us to deal with all the crap going on by ourselves. I'm just sick of it. He need to cop himself on and stop this nonsense. It's not fair on us, he's just being selfish." Lorcan exclaimed.

"Think of what you just said. Does that really sound like Lys?" Luna asked. When Lorcan said nothing she continued. "There's something more going on beneath the surface. He hasn't been himself recently and I'm not sure why but he's not being selfish. I can assure you of that." She said.

"It's just I feel like he's trying to distance himself from me. We always said that we would never hide anything from eachother. We're twins. But he barely talks to me anymore. He arrives home from Andrea's and goes straight to his room and I don't see him until breakfast the next day. I'm sick of it." Lorcan explained.

"To be honest, I think this whole thing with your father is wearing him thin. I wish there was a way to help him and your father but I've tried everything but nothings working." Luna explained.

"But I'm going through the same as him, so are you for that matter but we're not acting like that?" He questioned.

"Everyone deals with pain in different ways. It's especially hard for Lysander. He was very close to your father. Not thay you weren't but they had a different bond. The same way we have a different bond than him and I." Luna said attempting to explain

"Children take to one parent more than another. It's the way it is. It doesn't mean they love them any less but they're different I suppose. Lysander didn't just lose his father, he lost a friend. That's why people say Mammy's boy and Daddy's girl." Luna continued

"Lysander was always a big girls blouse." Lorcan grinned. Before nodding and agreeing with his mother. "Fine I'll give him a break."

"Good boy." She grinned ruffling his hair just as the phone rang.

The phone was another muggle custom that Luna insisted that they had. "If anything happened and you couldn't send an owl, a phone does the same thing quicker." The boys eventually realised that phones were amazing devices and couldn't get over the fact that wizards didn't have them yet.

"Hello" Luna said as she answered the phone. "Yes, this is she."

Lorcan tried to make her laugh something he did quite often while she was on the phone as it was quite often someone looking to do a survey or something of that manner. He was surprised when she waved him away and turned her back to him.

"Where?" She questioned her voice wavering. "Yes of couse, we'll be there right away." She said as she hung up and immediately started looking for her bag and her purse and everything else.

"Who was that?" Lorcan asked taking a bite out of a biscuit.

"A muggle hospital." Luna said trying to get her head around it. "Lysander was in a car accident and they told us we need to get there as soon as possible." She said her voice shaking, "Come on." She said grabbing his wrist. "We need to go."

She dragged him to the fireplace. "Where's all the floo powder?" She asked panicky.

"We ran out." Lorcan said helplessly still not having taken in what his mother said. Accidents happened all the time. It was no big deal. His mother had a habit of making a mountain out of a mole hill.

"We need to apparate then. Hold on tight." She said and before Lorcan had a chance to speak she turned on her heel and apparated.

They arrived just outside the hospital and Luna led Lorcan into reception of the hospital. "Wait here." She barked at him, something she never does. Lorcan started taking a look around and one thing stood out to him more than anything else.

"Mum, this is a muggle hospital." He said in awe. He was right. Lorcan couldn't understand why Lysander would be taken here instead of 's. There was a funny sense of irony here Lorcan thought. Here Lysander was wasting all his time to become a healer and the one time he needed a healer he ends up in a muggle hospital.

"They've just taken him to surgery." Luna said biting her lip, something she only ever did when she was feeling especially panicked. "What's that?" Lorcan asked not really understanding muggle terms.

"Basically they cut him open on a table and try and save his life." She said not in the mood to go into detail when she was in a frenzy. "Come on." She said taking him to the waiting area. Hearing the way his mother described it was what really made it sink in. "Wait, he's, like, dying?" He asked his voice rising slightly and he could see looks of pity being sent his way.

"Well, he will be if they don't do anything, this is the best place for him." Luna said.  
"But, it's a muggle hospital! He would be so much better at St. Mungo's!" Lorcan protested.  
"He crashed on muggle roads, they took him to the nearest hospital and this just so happens to be it. We can't take him out of surgery so he'll have to stay here until we're able to move him to St. Mungo's." Luna said rubbing her forehead trying to work out how she ended up in a hospital waiting room on a Wednesday afternoon.

"I'm going for some coffee, do you want anything?" She asked Lorcan who just shook his head. Lorcan glanced around him, looking at all the families in the same boat as him. He sighed just as a doctor walked over to him. He looked up afraid that the doctor would be here to tell him the worst.

"Mr Scamander?" She asked and Lorcan nodded. "This was retrieved from your brothers car, we thought you'd like to have it." Lorcan looked down at the what she was giving him. It was Lysanders phone. There wasn't a scratch on it. Typical. Lysander kept that phone in perfect condition so it was no wonder that the phone was fine.

Lorcan gave the doctor a tight smile as thanks and then went back to the phone. There was a code. 0312 he guessed, It was their birthday. The third of December. Ping! He was in. He checked the notifications. 4 from a number he didn't know. A text from the same number. He had just started to read it when the phone rang from the same number.

"Hello?" He answered unsure.

"There you are Ly! John is going ape, you've never been this late before and the cafe is mobbed, get your ass down here!" A girls voice rang out.

"Sorry? I-" Lorcan began trying to explain.

"Don't apologise to me, try and tell John that. I swear t-"  
"This isn't Lysander!" Lorcan interrupted. "My name is Lorcan, I'm his twin brother." He explained  
"Oh, well I'm Juile, I work with Ly, can you put him on the phone please? I've been trying to get through for the past hour." Juile said.  
"Ly's been in an accident, he's in surgery at the moment and to be honest I don't know what's going on." Lorcan said running his hand through his hair trying to figure out where Ly worked with Juile.

Juile gasped. "Was that the accident on main street? By the traffic lights? I passed that on my way to work, it was awful. All the roads are diverged but I passed before all that."

"Are you training to be a healer too?" Lorcan questioned to avoid answering her questions because to be honest he didn't know where the accident was or really anything about it. But what he couldn't understand was that if it was Ly on main street that meant he was going in the opposite direction to where Andrea lived so that can't of been where he was headed. So where was he going then?

"Healer?" She asked "No, I work in the coffee shop? The same one as Ly? Down beside the shopping center just off of main street?"

Lorcan didn't understand but he wasn't in the mood to question the poor girl. "Oh right, okay well Ly won't be there for a while, sorry, I have to go, bye." He said hanging up the phone before she could say anything else. He just needed a break

What was going on? His head was a mess. He put his head in his hands. After a few minutes he felt a hand on his shoulder. It was his mother back with the coffee's. She gave him a small smile that he returned and then went back to hiding his face.

He just wanted this day to be over.


	3. Chapter 3

**((This is chapter 3! I hope you's enjoy this chapter! Please leave a review with any questions or thoughts** **))**

Half an hour past.

And then an hour.  
And then two hours.  
And still nothing.

People came and left. The only distraction was doctors coming out to families and telling them the news. No matter what the news was there were tears. Of joy. Of loss. Lorcan couldn't help but wonder what the reaction would be when the doctor came out to him and his mother.

Because the wait was so long, Lorcan had time to think of all the things that had happened leading up to Lysander storming. Lorcan knew how easy it was to get Lysander worked up and the worst thing was that he enjoyed doing. He was angry and he loved getting Lysander worked up. It was sick

3 hours had past.

The ticking of the clock was getting louder. It was all he could hear.

Fingers tapping on the table. He wished it would stop. It was off putting

Sniffles from the corner. They really should blow their nose.

A siren outside. That meant another family would soon be joining them.

A nervous chit chat going on between a mother and a young child. Explaining where Daddy was.

All the noises were too getting too much for him. He wanted them to stop.

"It's my fault." Lorcan blurted out surprising his mother who hadn't expected the outburst.

"What?" She asked in surprise looking over at her son.

"It's my fault." Lorcan repeated calmly glad to get the one thought going over and over in his head off of his chest. "We fought this morning but it was me that started it. I know he doesn't think straight when he's angry but I still kept picking at him. I threw the keys at him and he spilled tea all over himself. If it weren't for him changing clothes he would've been out the door sooner and that wouldn't have been him getting hit. It's all my fault."

"Sweetheart." Luna said softly the way she used to when they were young.

"No mum, don't try and make me feel better." He said shaking his head. "When he walked out that door I wanted that to be the last I saw of him because I was so angry, and now it looks like I'll get my wish."

"Don't blame yourself. People fight all the time. It doesn't make them bad people. It just makes them human. It would be unnatural not to get annoyed. Nobody keeps their cool all the time. And this morning it was just an especially bad one. It's like I always say, 'Its a-" Luna said but was interrupted by Lorcan.

"No don't say 'It's a twin thing' because after tonight we may not be twins for much longer. Even if he does wake up, he might not even forgive me. I was a dick to him." After seeing the stern look his mother gave him he rephrased it. "Sorry, I was just horrible to him."

"C'est la vie." Luna sighed.

"La vie." Lorcan smirked and Luna gave him a small laugh. Not something you heard too often in a waiting room.

"I suppose who cares if he want's to spend time with Andrea, I mean that's what couples do. It has nothing to do with me." Lorcan decided.

"Speaking of Andrea, has anyone told her?" Luna asked. Lorcan shook his head. "I claim I'm not doing it." Luna said quickly. Andrea wasn't her favourite person but if she made Lysander happy that was all that mattered. But it didn't change the fact she tried to make as little contact with her as possible.

"Damn it." Lorcan said as he pulled Lysander's phone from his pocket. He didn't have Andrea's number or that much credit for that matter so he thought it would be just as handy to use Ly's.

"Andrea?" He asked when the phone answered.

"Lysie?" A girlie voice asked on the other end. "Thank god, I was just about to call you. I broke a nail! Can you believe it. So I was in the shops and I really wanted this new bag, you know the one I was telling you about, so anyway I was there and this girl grabbed it from me! I know, rude! So anyway I was like 'Give me back my bag' and do you know what she did? She just took it anyway, oh I could've killed her."

Lorcan had tried to interrupt her on a few different occasions but in the end gave up and just let her talk. After what felt like an entirety she finally stopped to take a breath.

"Andrea? This isn't Lysander, it's Lorcan." Lorcan said rolling his eyes at his mother.

"Why do you have Ly's phone? Did he lose it again? He seems to do that an awful lot." Lysander never lost his phone. "One time I tried ringing him about fourty times and no reply." That explained it.

"Ly has been in an accident." Lorcan said. "He's in surgery. He's at the Mc Manus Bell hospital and I thought I better let you know so you're not sitting around waiting for him to land." He explained. Talking to her was giving him a headache.

"Why? Was he supposed to come over today? I haven't seen him in over a week so he never mentioned it to me."

Odd Lorcan thought but said nothing.

"Is his face damaged?" She asked. "His face was always his best part. Without it I don't know what he'll do. I'm not saying he's just a pretty face but he kinda is. He doesn't really talk much."

Lorcan could see why. It was hard to get a word in edgeways. "We don't know how bad his injuries are but when we do I'll send you a text." He told her. Anything to avoid talking on the phone with her again.

"Oh I know!" She exclaimed. "I'll come down there. I bet he'll want to see me when he wakes up. I shouldn't be to long I just need to grab some stuff." She said

"That's really not necessary, he won't be waking up for another while yet. I'll let you know when he gets out of surgery and you can come then." He told her.

"I'm his girlfriend do I not deserve to be there to make sure he's okay?" She asked Lorcan her voice inviting him to disagree

"No no, of course you deserve to be here." Lorcan said trying backtrack.

"Good see you in a few, ta-ta" She sang before hanging up. Lorcan was left holding the phone. "Em, she said she wants to be here when he wakes up." He informed his mother who groaned

"God help us." She said closing her eyes. The quiet wasn't too bad Lorcan decided when he thought of what he'd have to face next.

"I don't know what he sees in her." Lorcan admitted.  
"Puppy love." His mother explained. "It's like beer goggles only worse."  
"Amen to that." Lorcan said rubbing his eyes.

"Sweetheart, get some sleep, I'll wake you if anything happens." Lorcan tried to disagree but he had gotten to the stay where everytime he blinked it was almost as though he momentarily forgot to reopen his eyes.

"Promise you'll wake me the second the doctor even starts to look in this direction." He said.

"I promise." Luna said with a small laughed and stroked his hair.

"Sleep, you'll feel better afterwards."

It didn't take him long to fall asleep but when he did his dreams were full of mixed up images that he could make rhyme nor reason from.

Clip clop, clip clop, clip clop. He first thought was that he was dreaming of a horse but the noise got louder and louder until it woke it from his sleep. When he opened his eyes he was staring at a pair of heel so tall it looks as though a gust of wind could knock them over. He quickly sat up properly and he found himself looking at his brothers girlfriend.

He could see why his brother found her attractive up until she spoke. She was tall. Amazing figure, long blonde hair that matched his mothers hair although he doubted that hers was natural. A doll like face and everything seem to need to be perfect for her.

"Good morning sleepy bones." She said with a tinkly laugh. "Scooch over." She said and sat down where Lorcan's had just been.

"I'm going to go get some coffee, does anyone want anything?" Luna asked standing up.  
"I'll have a latte please." Andrea smiled. "But only if there's low fat milk, otherwise water will do me. And I think maybe some strong coffee for this one to keep him awake." She laughed pointing to Lorcan, "We don't want to be sitting in a pool of his drool."

"Too late." Lorcan muttered looking at where he his head had just been and where she was now sitting.

"Ew!" She said jumping up immediatly and grabbing a tissue out of his bag and wiping down the seat.

Lorcan shot a quick grin at his mother who went to get the coffee and left the two to work it out for themselves.

Before she could speak Lorcan started to speak. "I'm going back to sleep, wake me when mum gets back."

He wasn't planning on going back to sleep but anything to stop her burning his ear off


	4. Chapter 4

(( **Are you enjoying this so far?** **I hope you's are, if you have any thoughts please leave a little review))**

Was there some type of time slowing effect in this hospital?  
Lorcan could have sworn that he had been here a week when in all honesty it was only about four hours. He didn't understand how long these things usually took but his mum explained to him, if it takes long it either means something has gone wrong and they're trying to fix it or else that it's a long procedure but either way it meant that he was still alive and Lorcan couldn't ask for much more at this moment in time.

Every time a doctor came their way Lorcan straightened himself up in the hopes that it was news for them, but it never was. The waiting room had a steady flow of people coming and going.

There was one woman beside Lorcan who had rosary beads and she seemed to be deep in prayer. He couldn't help but watch her. He was a big believer in God. He believed there was something out there but he didn't believe in all the rules, but in this moment in time he needed all the help he could get. He closed his eyes and tried to remember the prayer that his Granny had taught him when he was younger but the words wouldn't come to him. He was getting frustrated trying his hardest to remember as though his life depended on it.

"Are you alright dear?" He heard. He opened his eyes to see the woman leaning over to him. He rubbed his eyes, he was surprised that they were slightly damp, and nodded. "Yeah, I'm alright I suppose." He told her.

"My son is in surgery." She said. "A tumour, grade 4. It was supposed to be inoperable but we managed to get a doctor to try. I mean we have nothing left to lose. If he dies well at least we know we tried everything we could. He's going to die anyway." She said with a soft smile.

"Are you all by yourself?" Lorcan asked looking around to see if there was anyone beside her. "Yep." She said with a small smile. "His father, my husband, is currently out fighting a war. So it's just me and my boy at the moment." She told him.

"It's my brother." Lorcan decided to start. Hearing this mothers story helped him slightly. He wasn't alone. He was in a room full of people in the same boat as him.

"He got into a car crash this morning. He was completely healthy before that but now he's in surgery and I feel like he's been there for hours. It can't be a good sign." He explained.

"How long has he been gone?" She asked curiously.

"About four hours I think." He told her.

She gave a small laugh. "Is that all? Oh my dear, the simplest of surgeries can take over two and half hours. Don't start to worry about time until he's been gone over eight. Then it's worrying." She smiled.

"Really?" He asked. "He's the smart one you see. He's training to be a doctor. If the shoe was on the other foot, he'd know what to do. I'm useless." He sighed shaking his head.

"There's nothing you can really do in these situations other than let the professionals do their job." She informed him. "I pray. It helps clear my mind and make me feel as though I'm doing something of worth even though I'm not sure if does. How about this, I'll pray for your brother and you can let me know how he gets on later. Alright?" She said and Lorcan nodded.

"Thank you." He said genuinely. He wasn't religious but he knew for someone who was religious, offering to pray for them was the nicest thing they could do and he appreciated it. "Let me know how your son gets on too please." He said and she nodded before going back to her beads.

Lorcan sat in the silence for a little while. His mother had left to check up on their father and Andrea had fallen asleep on his shoulder during the wait. He was just starting to look through the room when he heard a voice. "The family of Mr. Scamander?"

Lorcan shot up causing Andrea to fall down, waking her up immediately. She started to complain but Lorcan wasn't listening. He was making his way over to the doctor.

"You relation to the patient?" He asked him. "I'm his twin brother." Lorcan said running his hand through his hair.

"Is your mother here?" He questioned. "I feel more comfortable speaking with her." The doctor said.

"She's just gone to check on our father, I'm not sure how long she'll be, but I'm of age, you can tell me." Lorcan insisted.

The doctor looked unsure but he sighed and continued. "Your brother has been through a huge ordeal. He's broken three ribs, his leg, sprained his wrist. He was taken into surgery due to the fact that his ribs were in danger of piercing his lungs He also broke one of his face bones.." A lot of this went over Lorcan's head.

"He's lost an awful lot of blood. He had quite a few cuts to the head and bruises and we were afraid that this could cause some brain damage so we had to put him in a medically induced coma. It'll last a couple of days and we hope that because of this his brain will start to heal itself. We'll try to wake him in a few days and if we successfully wake him it'll mean his brain has healed quite a bit. If not he may need another surgery."

"So he's essentially asleep?" Lorcan asked. "Basically." The doctor said. "But he won't be able to wake without out help. It's quite a common procedure and the success rate is quite high."

"Can he hear anything while he's in this coma?" Lorcan asked and the doctor nodded. "Quite a few patients reported being able to hear their family members talking or doctors or nurses."

"Can we see him?" Lorcan questioned. He wouldn't believe that he was still alive until he seen him for himself.

The doctor nodded. "He's in the ICU unit. We can wait for you mother and then I'll take you there."

"I'll go call her." Lorcan said taking his phone out of his pocket, ignoring Andrea's questions.

After a quick phone call Lorcan returned, "She's on her way, she'll be here in two or three minutes." He said before sitting down again and explaining what the doctor had just said. He was surprised by how silent she had gone. It was a few seconds before she spoke. "So he did ruin his face? I knew it!" Lorcan rolled his eyes. Of course this is what she took out of it.

After a few minutes their mother rushed in and the started to walk to Lysander's room, the doctor explaining everything as they went. She seemed to understand better and asked numerous questions.

When they reached the room, Lorcan let everyone else go before them. He stopped in the doorway. They must have gotten the wrong room. Because there was no way that that was his brother. It was a simple room. White walls, a small window with white blinds. The room was big enough but most of it was taken up with strange machinery making strange noises. Soft whirls and beeps came from them. Connected to all the machines in a bed almost as white as the person that lay upon them was Lysander.

His eyes were shut. His normally bright blonde hair was mat and seemed to have traces of blood through it. His normally tanned face was as white as sheet, the only colour on it was the cuts and bruises that surrounded most of his face. The was an especially bad one underneath his right eye. Lorcan guessed that was where he broke the bone. A large tube was connected to his mouth and seemed to go down his throat.

"To help him breath." He faintly heard the doctor behind him say.

His left hand was bandaged up. There was another tube going into the crook of his right arm connected to a bag of clear liquid. His right leg had a large cast on up past his knee. The rest of him was covered by the quilt and be tell the truth Lorcan had seen enough. He looked worse than death and he looked nothing like himself.

He barely noticed the doctor leaving. He sat down on one of the chairs. He was trying to find a part of his brother that still looked like him. He looked at right hand and seen the bitten fingernails and the mole. The were the same as always.

One of the ways to tell the difference between Lorcan and Lysander was their hands. Lorcan never bit his nails. He thought it was horrible. Lysander however never stopped biting his nails. Lorcan had a mole on his left hand and Lysander had one on his right. You need to be quite observant to notice these things but by appearance other than clothing it was the only way to tell the difference between the brothers.

"He looks like shit." Lorcan blurted out, never one to hold his tongue. Luna went to disagree but she had to admit that Lysander looked awful.

"At least he's still here." Luna said sitting down and taking Lysander's hand.

So Lorcan hadn't killed his brother. Yet. But it was going to be a long few days.


	5. Chapter 5

**((Yo! This is chapter 5! I hope you enjoy! I'd like to thank all of you that favourited and followed the story, it means so much to me! ))**

To be perfectly honest, Lorcan didn't particularly like tea. There was never any aspect of it that appealed to him.

Lysander on the other hand though, loved the stuff. Lorcan couldn't really understand it. He was more of a coffee man.

When they were younger their mum used to make them some tea before bed to help them sleep. It was decaff of course so they could sleep. They used to share a cup because half was enough for them. They took turns over how the tea was made. Lorcan liked it unsweetened, a tiny bit of milk and piping hot. Lysander always took two sugars, a glub of milk and it was never too hot to drink.

So even now, slightly milky tea reminded Lorcan of his brother. Sometimes he would ask Ly for coffee and his brother would forget and just end up making tea for him the same way he would make it for himself. Lorcan being too nice to correct him would just drink it.

With all that had been going on, Lorcan felt like he need something, anything that would remind him of his brother. He felt like it had been years since they last spoke, not a day and a half.

And so Lorcan made himself a cup of tea the way Lysander liked it. Sugar and warmth. What could go wrong?

White was such a horrible colour Lorcan decided as he looked around the hospital cafeteria. It was so boring and everything showed up on it. It held no secrets.

The only thing that was worse than the white cafeteria was the white room his brother was currently in. He could only take so much of the beeps and the puffs of air and the doctors hushed tones as he explained to his mother what was going on.

Lorcan didn't really care to tell you the truth. All he cared was that Ly wasn't getting worse and he was waiting for him to get better. It was a slow progress and the doctors didn't really say much.

He readjusted his watch. A nervous habit. His mother was contacting St. Mungo's at this moment in time, trying to find a course of action that could be used ASAP.

He hoped there was, at least if he was in 's they would be on their own home turf. And no offence to the muggles but he trusted wizards more than muggles.

Lorcan still remembered the time him and Lysander had gone shopping in the muggle world and had somehow lost their mother. As they wandered around some strange man tried to talk to them, begging for money and when they explained they had none he had grown angry and began yelling. Thankfully some woman had seen the commotion and had guided the boys to customer service desk where their mother quickly found them.

Ever since that day Lorcan could shake the uneasy feeling he had around muggles. He knew that they weren't all bad. Every rose had their pricks but still. It still chilled him to his core. The only reassurance he had had was that his brother was with him. He had never been so scared in his life.

Until now that is. At this moment in time he was completely alone. He didn't know what was going to happen within the next few minutes or hours or days. All he knew was that he didn't have Ly there for support. And he felt lonely. He had no one to turn to with a cheeky grin when someone said something that they found funny. He had no one to share inside jokes with. In general he had no one to talk to.

His mother tried. She really did. But no matter how hard she tried it was never going to be the same. He didn't even bother talking to Andrea. He stayed as far away from her as possible.

Lorcan was pulled from his thoughts as his mother started approaching him. Her facial expression didn't give anything away. Lorcan raised an eyebrow at her.

"Well?" He asked curiously.

"They can't take him." Luna said, when Lorcan opened his mouth to complain she shushed him.

"They have the same method of treatment. An induced coma to give the brain time to heal itself. If we were to move him now any bump he might get could set him back so far that it's not worth the risk. When he wakes up, we'll be able to move him to heal the rest of his injuries but until then he has to stay put." Luna explained as simply as possible without using any jargon.

Luna had trained to be a healer for a few years before deciding it wasn't for her and changing careers.

Lorcan groaned. He had hoped that St. Mungo's would be their answer to all their problems, but they were no better off.

"When's Andrea's shift over?" Lorcan asked. They had taken to taking shifts looking after Lysander so that when he woke up he'd have someone he knew with him. It was his turn next. It was a draining time but he didn't like being away from the hospital for too long.

"Any minute now." Luna said as Lorcan nodded. He went to collect all his stuff before apparating to an alley by the hospital.

Just as he was about to walk into the hospital when an owl flew down dangerously close to his head. Once it got his attention it dropped a letter which Lorcan swiftly caught. He choose to read it inside in order to not draw attention to himself.

He walked in, gave Andrea a tight smile as he asked how Lysander was today. "The same." Was the curt reply Andrea gave as she hurried out the door.

Lorcan plopped himself down at chair beside his brother an opened up the letter. He instantly recognised the writing. Lily Luna Potter's .

Lorcan instantly felt a pang of guilt. Lily was one of their best friends and he never even thought to tell her. She was particularly lose to Lysander and back in school people always expected the two to get together.

"Dear Lorcan." The letter read

"I've just heard about Lysander and I was so shocked to hear about it. I know you probably don't want to talk to anyone but I just want to let you know, that if you ever need someone to talk to, I'm here.

I don't expect a reply, you have enough on your plate at the moment, but know that we're all sending our love.

I hope things get better soon.

Yours truly

Lily Luna."

Lorcan gave a small smile. Lily had always been a sweet girl, very friendly and thoughtful. He was going to reply to her and let her in the loop.

He gently took Lysander's hand. "You better wake up soon. Please."

Just as the words left his mouth, nearly in reply, the heart monitor went crazy. It started beeping and all of a sudden things started moving in slow motion.

Four nurses and two doctors rushed into the room shouting. "He's crashing! Page Doctor Philips!" A nurse yelled.

Lorcan was pushed to the wall and he couldn't do much other stare in shock.

"What's going on?" He exclaimed but was ignored.

Lysander gown was ripped open in the front and the doctor started doing cpr.

Lorcan was panicking. "Get a crash kit!" A doctor yelled and next thing Lorcan knew they were hooking him up to some wires.

"Push 2 of epi." He heard. "Charge to 200." Lorcan couldn't comprehend what was going on. "Clear." Someone yelled and then next thing he knows Lysander was jerking.

"Nothing." The nurse said. "Push another of epi. Charge to 300." And then there was another jerk.

Silence.

And then a beeping.

"We got him." Someone said. Lorcan released the breath he didn't know he holding in.

Next thing he knew they were carting Lysander was being carted off.

"What happened?" Lorcan asked some intern standing by the door.

"Your brother, he crashed." Seeing the look of confusion on his face she explained. "His heart stopped. We managed to get him back. There's fluid near his aorta, he's been taken to a procedure room to sort it out." She explained with a sad smile before walking out.

Lorcan was left staring at the door speechlessly.


	6. Chapter 6

"Having a twin must be hard." A sweet old woman once said. "Being referred as two people all the time. Never been known for yourself. Sharing everything."

At the time both Lysander and Lorcan had laughed. Hard? It was the easiest thing they had ever done. They were better together. A team. When one fell the other was there to pick them up. When one was hurting so was the other.

Once Lorcan had tripped and scraped his knee. He was only a little boy, and as little boys did, he cried. Not ten minutes later, Lysander walked into a sharp corner and scraped his arm. To anybody else this would seem like a coincidence but they knew it was something more. They were always equal.

It wasn't until now that Lorcan understood what the woman had meant. He was at a loss without his brother. He just didn't know what to do. If Lysander di... if he didn't make it Lorcan didn't know what he would do with himself. It would be like losing half of his body. He would continue but he would struggle his whole life.

He would live the rest of his life with a cloud over his head not allowing any sunlight to get through.

Lorcan wasn't naive, he knew that eventually one would die and leave the other behind. It was just common sense but he just didn't think it would be so soon. I mean he always expected it would be him to go first.

Lysander was always a lot braver and he just went through a lot more in his life. At school Lysander was bullied for ages. He tried to keep it a secret but nothing got past his twin. Lorcan saw right through him. It was the way they were.

It sounded stupid and maybe it was but they just knew when the other was in trouble. It was a sinking feeling in their stomach that couldn't be explained. It was only when they found out what had happened to their twin the feeling became clear. It was weird. People told them it was a coincidence or that they imagined the feeling.

Lorcan didn't care what they thought, it worked and that was the long and the short of it.

He had taking to pacing waiting on any word from the doctors. An intern promised to being him word as soon as they knew something. And as if by magic he spotted the intern. He stopped pacing and approached her.

"How is he?" Lorcan asked nervously. He would go by the feeling but he'd had that feeling since he entered the hospital nearly a week ago.

"He's stable." She told him. "His artery is leaking and he is having trouble breathing. We caught it early so it's not lethal it's just a long surgery." She said. "I recommend that you leave this place. It'll be hours yet and if you stay here you'll be doing more damage than good." She informed him.

"But what if something happens and I'm gone?" Lorcan asked.

"We'll give you a pager, we'll page you when we start to finish up so you can be there for when he gets out of the theatre, how's that?" She offered and Lorcan couldn't do much but nod and next thing he knew he was on the streets of London holding a little black box and not a clue where to go.

Lorcan glanced around him taking in his surroundings. He started to walk with no destination in mind, he just walked. He passed teenagers discussing fake ID's, an arguing couple, a dog that knew its way better than Lorcan and all different sorts.

"The park?" Lorcan asked himself before shaking his head. He didn't want to be 'that' guy. We all know the one. The one that took to wandering around the park.

He wasn't in the mood for shopping. He didn't see the point on the best of days.

Lorcan's thoughts were interrupted by his stomach rumbling. That answered his questions. He look around for somewhere to eat before slipping into a small Chinese takeaway and restaurant.

He was greeted by a small tinkling of Chinese music and a small ornament pushing water around a wheel. There was a black sofa for waiting so Lorcan grabbed a menu and began scanning it.

He wasn't really focused on what he was reading. He didn't really know what a "kung po" was or "panda sauce" or even who "General Tao" was. He studied the menu for a while not a clue what to get.

"You alright?" Lorcan jumped as he looked up to see a figure had entered behind the counter.

The girl grinned at the surprise on his face. "Sorry, you were deep in thought and I didn't know whether to interrupt your thoughts or not ." She laughed.

Lorcan studied the girl. She wasn't Chinese but judging by her accent she wasn't English either. She had a lilting voice. Irish he guessed but he'd need to hear her talk more to be sure.

She was pale which really contrasted with the dark clothing she was wearing and her brown hair that was pulled into a loose bun at the back of her head. She had freckles sprinkled across her nose and under her eyes and rosy cheeks. Her dark eyes twinkle with amusement watching him.

"You're not a mute are you?" She asked him raising an eyebrow. Lorcan opened his mouth to answer when she seemed to face palm. "Shit! Maybe you are a mute, I'm such an idiot." Definitely Irish Lorcan thought.

"I'm not a mute." Lorcan told her. "Just a bit out of it." He said before rethinking it. "I'm not high though. Or drunk." He tried to clarify.

"I'm glad." She laughed. "Anyway, can I help you?" She asked.

"Um yeah, what do you recommend from here to eat?" Lorcan asked glancing down at the menu remembering why he was actually here.

"I wouldn't eat here if you paid me." She said blank faced before grinning at his expression. "Joking. I like the shredded chicken." She told him.

"What's in a 3 in 1?" He asked.

"Anything your pretty heart desires." She told him. "Well usually curry sauce, chip and rice but people like to mix it up."

"I'll have that please." He said twiddling his thumbs.

"That'll be 4 pounds, you're order number 4 and it'll be about 5 to 10 minutes." She told him as he passed over the money.

He sat down on the sofa looking out at the road while she disappeared with his order. He took out the pager to make sure he hadn't missed out on anything.

"You're a doctor?" He heard her ask and be jumped again. She kept sneaking up on him.

Lorcan shook his head and opened his mouth to explain but couldn't find the words. Instead he just shook his head again.

The girl nodded in understanding. "Mc Manus Bell hospital isn't it?" She asked.

"Good hospital." She said as Lorcan looked up.

"My granny was there a few years ago. She had cancer. I moved over here so that she could go. I moved into a hostel. They were always really nice and let me stay at the hospital any time I was matched with a particularly bad roommate." She told him. "And they have very good doctors working for them."

"So your granny got better?" He asked hopefully. If they could heal cancer a little car accident would be nothing in comparison.

"Well, no. She um died." She said and Lorcan's heart dropped. "It's not their fault." The girl tried to explain seeing the defeated look on Lorcan's face. "She was basically dead before they got to her. They just helped her have the energy to live the rest of her life properly."

Lorcan sighed softly. "I'm really sorry about your granny." He said. "Me too." She said gently.

A long silence followed her and Lorcan checked the pager.

"It's my brother." Lorcan started before he realised he was talking. "He was in a car accident last week and he hasn't woken up since."

"That's rough." She said pondering. "Are you and your brother close?" She asked and Lorcan nodded. "We're twins. Identical twins."

"That's worse again." She said and sighed. "There are so many people currently sick it's unbelievable."

"So you're not originally from here?" Lorcan asked changing the subject and the girl shook her head.

"Nope, I'm Irish through and through. I'd still be there now except there are no jobs." She told him.

"My mum's Irish." Lorcan said softly. "I've only been once though. She from the west."

"I'm from the North West, the part that's not owned by Britain." She told him. "The Republic."

Lorcan nodded as she went to get his food. "Here you go." She smiled. "Have you anywhere to eat?" Lorcan shook his head. "I'm going to go to the park across the road. There's a few benches over there."

The girl glanced at her watch. "My shift is over in ten minutes, if you want you can wait and stay at my flat for a while. It's not far from here."

Lorcan opened his mouth to speak when a short beep interrupted him. At the same time both eyes travelled to the little pager on the table.

"Shit, I better to. Thanks for everything." He told her as he got to his feet in a panic grabbing his food.

"Good luck." The girl said her eyes following him.

"I'm Lorcan by the way. Lorcan Scamander." Lorcan said as he realised he never introduced himself

"Anna Diver." The girl smiled. Lorcan nodded before leaving the building. As soon as he was far enough away he apparated.

Once inside the hospital he rushed up to Lysander's floor where he was greeted by his brothers doctor.

"Everything went smoothly." The doctor calmly explained.

"We cleared up everything that needed clearing." He told him. "And in fact we have something to show you." He said leading him down the hallway.

"During the surgery we had to change up Lysander's medication and we stopped using the one keeping him in a coma all together. And so after the surgery we discovered something." The doctor explained as he walked. He stopped outside Lysander's room.

Lorcan peeked in and his heart rose because they sitting up in his bed, wide awake was his brother.

"Ly!" Lorcan explained. Lysander looked up at his brother and peered at him.

"Sorry." He started his voice croaky. He cleared his throat once more before attempting to talk again.

"Sorry, but who are you?"

And just like that Lorcan's heart dropped.


End file.
